The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

Ever since Apple told Google it wouldn’t include a pre-loaded YouTube app on new iPhones anymore because the license to do so had expired, the two companies have totally not been best friends anymore. Upping the fight ante this time around is YouTube’s owner Google, which launched a new YouTube app for iOS just in time for the expected iPhone 5 announcement tomorrow.

Times used to be, an iPhone customer bought a phone and voila — there was YouTube already downloaded onto it. But the two companies have been increasingly in competition in all things technological. Going forward, YouTube says it’s going to release its own app for any Apple products in the future, notes the Washington Post, pushing the former pals even farther apart.

Apple is jabbing back, by announcing that it’s going to have its very own maps app on the newest version of iOS, instead of using Google Maps.

Something that could be good both for YouTube and its users — with the new app, YouTube will be able to show recommendations for stuff you might want to see based on what you’ve watched in the past. That will keep people engaged with the product and, as Google likely hopes, even more entrenched in all of its products across the board.

Along with the new app for iOS systems in general, there will also be an app that is specifically meant to be used on the iPad as well. One familiar sight that won’t be going anywhere soon — ads on YouTube videos are here to stay. As long as it’s free, we gotta pay somehow.